StudentUniverseReviews 5,387

My daugheters are stranded in FL right now with no return flights. They booked a RT flight and student universe changed their flight out and gave them no return flight home. If you call the customer service number for existing reservations they tell me to call the airline and rudely hang up on me. The airline tells me they have no reservation. I'm stuck at this point paying for new tickets because this company just hangs up on you when you call them. Do not use this company if you want to make sure if you have a reservation home. Buyer beware they advertise cheap flights but you will pay a fortune when your ticket is cancelled and have to buy new flights.

Terrible experience.

I was told two days after I purchased a ticket that the flight was cancelled. When I requested my refund for the cancelled flight they wanted to charge me almost $200 for a cancellation fee.

But I didn't change my flight reservations, you did.
I am legally subject to my refund and will take action to report this company as the scam that they are. I have read so many reviews of people who never receive their money.

This is fraud and this is illegal.
Payment for no service.

Will not be booking again.
Be cautious.

Shockingly long winded telephone answer machine whose gibberish amounts to nothing. Impossible to get hold of a real person, terrified of the response when I do. Hopeless, hapless, buyer beware... as a concerned parent with many years of travel experience, I would advise students not to use this woeful organisation and encourage parents not to allow them to.

Terrible customer service. Terrible company. I booked a hotel reservation and canceled within an hour following their "24-hour cancellation policy". Never received my money back, not to mention customer service was rude, unhelpful, and their communication was so all over the place. This company claims to have good rates for students but all they really do is take advantage. If you really want to save money on a trip, stay away from them and save yourself the unnecessary headache and stress. Will never ever book with them again.

I've never left a written online review... but I waited around 1.40 hours to hear back from someone today because of flight cancellations. The wait time listed was 20-30 minutes. Since it took this long (I realise we have COVID, but this was excessive, and included calls from different numbers etc.), flights then got $150 more expensive during that time, which I think is VERY furstrating as Student Universe evidentally don't have appropriate staffing levels, that I then need to pay this extra amount. The final flight amount was also more than what was listed on their website as apparently I couldn't access some discount or something. I certainly won't be using Student Universe again, and would not recommend anyone to do so.

In response to the comment below from Student Universe, I DID leave my number for a call back THREE times, plus a message since my call was within 24 hours of the flight (as per the recorded messaged from Student Universe). This was different than the discount. The flight got more expensive because of the extended wait and not the discount. I also sent an email with my feedback and asked for a response, and haven't yet received this.

Not trustworthy. Didn't offer me a refund when I was eligible. Hidden fees for cancellations. I don't recommend them.

Got VirginAus credits after the border shutdown. Three months later when I try to rebook a flight, they charge me $150 more than what's available on Virgin website and when I asked for refund because they are not fairly charging me, they said it was voluntary cancellation by me (what?!) not Virgin so can't guarantee for refund. Any how I requested for refund and it's on progress. The way they dealt with the matter over the phone wasn't sincere at all! Such a disappointing!

Just check their own website selling the same ticket for $170 less than what they charged me. Unfair!

Very bad customer service. Over the phone thier employee said that mam you will get your refund back in 7 to 10 business days and on email they said that mam you will get your money back in 3 to 4 weeks. Seriously guys please try to match your wording. I need my full refund back of dollar 832 otherwise I have to file a complaint against this scam company.

Booked a flight through them using one of their promo offer to receive an email after two days stating the booking has been cancelled and that I need to rebook the flight. Called them and asked for the refund and they mentioned the refund may take up to 30 days! Ridiculous! You charge my account for a service that you failed to serve with and now I'll have to wait for ages to get my money back!

WILL NEVER EVER USE THIS WEBSITE AGAIN!

Never got my $150 refund after weeks. Reached out two times was told to check with my bank, they haven't received anything. It's all this company. Thank god I didn't waste more than 150. Goodbye.

I had 2 separate flights cancelled due to border closure was given a flight credit... eventually. Rebooked and had to pay extra over and above the ticket price advertised on their website. Tried to rebook the 2nd cancelled flight and again they wanted to charge me more than the quoted online ticket price. Tried to tell me I had booked a student fare originally... rubbish you have to ticket the " adult box"! Had a lot of issues with them giving me initial credit, each time I have rung it is a different " condition, flight fare, price for ticket" as to why they charge you more. Airline I am flying has even opened a case in my name to document the trouble I am having with Student Universe. Looks like I will have to pay more again!

My flight was cancelled only a few days after I booked and they failed to notify me. I only found out by chance months later from the airline. They failed to find me a suitable alternative flight and they failed to get me a refund. Because of the months it took me to find out my flight was cancelled I had to book a $1000 last minute ticket on what should have been a $400 dollar flight. If I hadn't found out by chance I'm convinced they would have let me show up at the airport for an imaginary flight and miss my mothers funeral. So now I'm out $1400 dollars all because of these horrible scammers and they haven't even bothered to apologise. They should be shut down.

I'm an international student and I'm flying to the US for education purposes. I booked a flight to Dallas on the 6th of January. I paid 715 dollars and booked on October 1st. Today, some one posted on the FB group that British airways are not allowing non-us and non-uk passports to land in UK (Heathrow). I mean this is a shame! The Student Universe did not even bother to inform via mail... I had to get through the customer care and they blatantly say we will refund you 328 dollars! I would like to bring to your notice that I'm a student on scholarship and 715 dollars is two months of my living expense which I have shelled out on this ticket! This flight money is taken out of my loan amount. This is appalling that I have to beg for my money for a flight I cannot even take. Please just refund my money or make provisions to transfer me to another flight! Don't drain your company name in the mud!

I booked a flight though here and everything was fine until I needed to change it to an earlier date. (Halifax to Calgary) I called to change it, was very clear with what flight I wanted, and they booked me to fly out of Toronto! I called to fix this and the new ticket they sent me had an extra return flight that I didn't ask for. I only got ~$60 refund for this once I cancelled it. Now my ticket has been suddenly changed to an earlier time that complicates my whole plans. The customer service is terrible, they won't listen to you and sound annoyed when you need to change anything. Huge waste of money, just book directly through the airline.

Booked a trip for Travel in late March 2020. COVID came along... All flights were cancelled. The news said Lufthansa Airlines is giving refunds. I called Student Universe they said nope that is not true. Hmmm OK... Lufthansa is giving voucher for future travel by the end of June 2020. In June called Student Universe, still no refunds (per airline policy), but the voucher got extended to Dec 2020. Hmmm... Ok. December is coming so I called Lufthansa this time. Lufthansa says refunds have been allowed on my ticket for quite a while. Told me refund had to come from Student Universe. Fine.

Called Student Universe. Again they tell me no refund is allowed (per airline policy). I call them out. Told them I spoke with Lufthansa and I am able to get a refund and offer to conference in Lufthansa. I get put on hold... Customer Service comes back and says i can get a refund but there is a $40 per ticket charge. Whatever I just want my money. A few hours later i get an email saying they have an additional $20 charge on the refund. What the!@#$... Why was I not told? Seriously this is a rip off and I am not seeing this in the fine print of our contract. Now I have to go deal with these guys again.

I have worked with other travel companies and have had to cancel trips without all this crap. Just stay away.

Try somewhere else. During Covid, the flight to singapore was cancelled. The price of 2 tickets was 1200 dollars. American airline returned the whole amount however they lied and said American airline didn't return $600 of the money. So they just pocketed the money. I have called them 15 or more times and even had a three way call with American airlines where they proved all the money is with student universe. Yet they just customer services continued to lie. Genuinely the worst if you have any change of plans or any changes at all. Just pay a little more and buy directly from airline or from other agenries with better business policies.

Booked a round trip flight from Denver to London through Student Universe. I saw the flight on the United website and the only discount was $20. Big whoop! But, my college age daughter, told me that professors wanted flights booked through this company. I made the mistake of going through Student Universe. Then, covid hit and flight was cancelled. Now, I have to deal with Student Universe instead of United Airlines directly. I just tried to re-book 3 small domestic flights with the credit. Searching Google flights, i see that these 3 flights only cost $161 total. The Student Universe rep quoted me $299.80 for all 3 flights. Basically, double the price of what I could pay right now. She said that because the London to Denver flight was deeply discounted, we have to pay more now on these domestic flights. I said - the London to Denver flight was only a $20 discount. THEN, I asked what would happen if my daughter got sick and couldn't make one of the upcoming domestic flights? She said that all 3 domestic flights would be cancelled and we would lose the $299.80 credit. SCAM! Worst yet, I HAVE to book all this through Student Universe - a middle man who is obviously just taking a big cut and taking advantage of the pandemic and selling students and parents a bill of goods. Do NOT book anything with this company. They should be ashamed of themselves and their business practices and if you are reading this review, Student Universe... do NOT try to blame this on airline policy or deeply discounted tickets. You are lying. That original ticket was NOT deeply discounted. LIARS!